Briscoe Wins Chicagoland, Takes IndyCar Points Lead

Penske driver Ryan Briscoe beat Target-Ganassi’s Scott Dixon by just feet to win his third race of the season at the Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil 300 under the lights at Chicagoland Speedway on the night of August 29.

Briscoe took the lead early, lost it mid-race with a pit error, and fought back to win by the fourth-smallest margin of victory in IndyCar history, crossing the line just eight thousandths of a seconds ahead of Scott Dixon.

After so many second-place finishes, Ryan Briscoe was pleased to be taking the chechkered flag first.

“This is a big win,” Briscoe said. “I didn’t think I’d have enough there for Scott but once I got up along side of him, the side draft just pulled me right there. I just waited until that last lap to try to use the Push [Push-to-Pass, or Overtake Assist] button, and it seemed to work.

“What a day. We were up and down. I made a mistake on the first pit stop; they couldn’t get the fuel in … I didn’t even know if I’d won it. I heard screaming, and I asked, ‘Hey, guys, did we actually get this?’ It’s just awesome.”

The win gave Briscoe a 25-point lead over Dixon’s teammate Dario Franchitti with only two races left in the season. “To win the championship we’re going to have to win races, and I was doing all I could to try to get Scott tonight, because I don’t want him getting wins—he’s had enough this year,” said Briscoe. “Hopefully we can stop those guys for the next two [races.]”

The race was a non-stop battle, with three-wide racing all around the track, and with eighteen lead changes. Helio Castroneves, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, and Ryan Briscoe all taking sizeable turns in the lead, with Tony Kanaan and Tomas Schecter taking shorter stints up front.

Ryan Briscoe took the lead early and held it until the first round of pit stops, and then took it back a few laps later.

A few laps later the leaders hit traffic. The mid-pack battling was so fierce, the leaders couldn’t squeeze through. Helio Castroneves then made an amazing run around the high side, passing everybody three wide and taking the lead.

On lap 92 Hideki Mutoh hit the wall, bringing out the first full-course caution. Briscoe came into his pit box too fast, and overshot the mark; his fueler had to strain to get the hose to reach, and Briscoe dropped eight places.

When the race went green on lap 101, Helio and Scott Dixon lapped side-by-side, fighting for the lead, while Briscoe imitated Helio’s early high-line rampage, fighting his way back up to the leaders.

On lap 107 Marco Andretti brushed the wall, bringing out another yellow, although his car wasn’t damaged. Half the field pitted, but a few cars, including Tony Kanaan and Tomas Schecter, stayed out to gain track position. It did them no good because on the restart Dixon and Franchitti hooked up and ran like a freight train, opening a gap over the rest of the field.

Mario Moraes, who scored his career-best finish, caught up to the streaking Ganassi machines, but couldn’t pass. With fifty laps to go, Briscoe recaught the leaders and the four circulated in a tight group at speeds reaching 216 mph.

After the third round of pit stops between laps 162 and 165, the order was Dixon, Brisco, Castroneves, and Franchitti. Behind them Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal, and Mario Moraes were lapping three-wide, flat out, and that’s how it stayed until lap 184, when something broke in Helio Castroneves’ right front suspension, slamming him in to the wall and bringing out another full-course caution. Helio was unhurt, but his night was over.

The race restarted with nine laps to go. Scott Dixon held the lead, with Ryan Briscoe right beside him inching ahead and falling back. Dario Franchitti was behind Dixon, and couldn’t get past because of Briscoe, while Marco Andretti held fourth. Then Graham Rahal surged past Franchitti and into third, running three wide with Briscoe and Dixon, all three vying for the lead.

Rahal didn’t have the speed to pass, and fell back. Then Mario Moraes ran up alongside Franchitti, helping Briscoe’s aerodynamics.   

At this point Dixon had seven applications of his Overtake Assist left; he was using them on every lap, as soon as the system refreshed. Franchitti had eight, but couldn’t use them because he was trapped behind Dixon. Ryan Briscoe had a single application left, and he used it just as he started the final lap. Briscoe had just enough momentum to beat Dixon to the line by twenty-four inches; Dixon was closing at the finish but just couldn’t quite make it in time.

Dixon lost the 2008 Chicagoland race in similar fashion, losing to Helio Castroneves by only 33/10,000 of a second.

“I’ve seen this movie several times before, unfortunately. In Chicago, I just keep finishing second, Dixon said after the race. “We drove a great race; the guys on the team did a fantastic job, pit stops were flawless. We just didn’t have the speed. We clearly need to play catch-up to Penske; they are clearly a lot faster than us. But I’ve got to thank the Target guys, they did a fantastic job tonight.”

The series is still up for grabs. Helio Castroneves is too far back to win, but either Dixon, Franchitti or Ryan Briscoe could win the championship. With a possible 53 points available at each race (for winning, winning the pole, and leading the most laps) and Franchitti and Dixon only 25 and 33 points behind, respectively, the championship could come down to the final race, as it did last year.

The IRL IndyCar racing series travels to the Far East for its next race the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 at the 1.5 mile banked oval at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Tochigi, Japan, on September 19. For ticket and travel information please visit the Mobilityland Web site.

 

Championship Points
	Driver	Points	Gap			Driver	Points	Gap
1	Ryan Briscoe	550 pts			6	Marco Andretti	342 pts	-208
2	Dario Franchitti	525 pts	-25		7	Tony Kanaan	335 pts	-215
3	Scott Dixon	517 pts	-33		8	Graham Rahal	331 pts	-219
4	Helio Castroneves	383 pts	-167		9	Dan Wheldon	318 pts	-232
5	Danica Patrick	353 pts	-197		10	Justin Wilson	316 pts	-234

 

IndyCar Series PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300
Chicagoland Speedway Saturday, August 29, 2009
	#	Driver	Car Name	Laps	Status	Pts
1	6	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	200	Running	53
2	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	200	Running	40
3	5	Mario Moraes	Azul Tequila/Votorantim/KVRT	200	Running	35
4	10	Dario Franchitti	Lifelock	200	Running	32
5	02	Graham Rahal	McDonald’s Racing Team	200	Running	30
6	20	Ed Carpenter	Menards/Vision Racing	200	Running	28
7	06	Oriol Servia	Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing	200	Running	26
8	43	Tomas Scheckter	Mona Vie/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	200	Running	24
9	2	Raphael Matos	US Air Force Luczo Dragon Racing	200	Running	22
10	18	Justin Wilson	Z-Line Designs	200	Running	20
11	26	Marco Andretti	Meijer	200	Running	19
12	7	Danica Patrick	Boost Mobile/Motorola	200	Running	18
13	11	Tony Kanaan	Team 7-Eleven/Oscar Meyer Big Bite	200	Running	17
14	67	Sarah Fisher	Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing	199	Running	16
15	14	Ryan Hunter-Reay	ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing	199	Running	15
16	24	Mike Conway	Dad’s Root Beer/Dreyer & Reinbold	199	Running	14
17	13	E.J. Viso	PDVSA HVM Racing	198	Running	13
18	33	Robert Doornbos	HVM Racing	197	Running	12
19	98	Jaques Lazier	CURB/Agajanian/Team 3G	195	Running	12
20	3	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	184	Contact	12
21	23	Milka Duno	CITGO/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	155	Mechanical	12
22	4	Dan Wheldon	National Guard Panther Racing	95	Mechanical	12
23	27	Hideki Mutoh	Formula Dream	90	Contact	12